folks from the cdc to test the air yault and ensure it is safe. >> our coverage will continue enin hours as well.day and "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. we're one hour away from a scheduled fbi press conference with the latest on the investigation here in boston. i'm jake tapper and this is "the lead." words of solace for the victims, survivors, first responders. president obama joined by the first lady con soelg the city of boston in its darkest hour. in texas entire blocks leveled, part of a small town reduced to smoldering rubble and a devastating chemical explosion. as many as 15 dead, more than 160 hurt, several still missing, and no one is sure exactly what caused it. finding comfort in our national pastime. boston's beloved red sox wrapping up a stint on the road tonight and getting ready to

return for their first home game since the attack. the intense sports rivalry between boston and other cities giving way to a spirit of solidarity. good afternoon. we're coming to you live from boston where president obama and the first lady have been visiting victims of the terrorist attack here. earlier they attended an interfaith service called "heal our city" at the cathedral of the holy cross one of the city's revered churches. the president offered prayer and condolences to the people who are still so shaken by the terrorist attacks at the boston marathon on monday. in a moving speech the president used the marathon as a metaphor for struggle, endurance, and ultimately, triumph over evil. comfort for a grieving city. >> like you, michelle and i have walked these streets. like you, we know these neighborhoods. and like you, in this moment of

grief, we join you in saying, boston, you're my home. >> reporter: president obama delivering soaring ora tory with the first lady looking on from the first row attempting to calm nerves after what will be remembered as one of the worst moments of his presidency. part eulogy, part sermon, part rallying cry. >> if they sought to intimidate us, terrorize us, shake us from the values that make us who we are as americans, well, it should be pretty clear by now that they picked the wrong city to do it. not here in boston. >> the crowd began lining up at the cathedral of the holy cross a mile away from the bombing site hours before the service stretching for blocks beyond the church. many more than could possibly fit inside the 2,000 capacity building. those who found a seat listened

as the president memorialized the three people killed in the terrorist attack, 29-year-old krystle campbell, 23-year-old chinese graduate student lindsay liu. the president became especially choked up when talking about 8-year-old martin richard. >> forever expressing a wish he made on a blue poster board. no more hurting people. peace. >> reporter: the president as consoler-in-chief, a role he has found himself in all too often. after tucson, after aurora, after hurricane sandy, more recently after newtown. as with those other terrible events now is the time for coming together. the service uniting religious leaders and people of all different faiths in one common prayer. >> to repair our broken world. we cannot do it as a collection of individuals. we can only do it together. >> reporter: as we mentioned

before, immediately following the service, both the president and first lady michelle obama stopped at hospitals to visit with the wounded and their families. for many, the key to healing from the attack will come only after justice is served. in less than an hour we expect a briefing from the fbi and hopefully new details on whoever did this. agencies were trying to track down two men who were near the finish line using images that haven't been released to the public. a source who receives regular intelligence briefings on the investigation now tells cnn that those men are no longer of high interest. i'm joined now by cnn national correspondent deborah furyk. i guess we know why the investigators never released the images and now seems those individuals aren't of interest. >> they've been lowered down on the list. one thing that is very interesting is the way the pictures were disseminated. these were sort of given to members of the intelligence community and it was almost as if they went viral almost

instantly. people were getting the photographs from sources they never would have gotten them from before. that surprised them. why were the pictures being sort of handed out, given this way? once it went viral it was hard to contain. cnn reached out to friends of one of the young men. they were of particular interest to law enforcement because of where they were standing. they arrived early and stayed throughout the course of the race. they were carrying backpacks. another had a duffle bag. it just didn't look right. it was the bulges on the backpack. investigators were looking at frame by frame to see what doesn't look right. these two men sort of fit that definition, that description. so absent context they basically had a look at the normal and said there is something abnormal about this. anyway they ultimately ruled them out. investigators have a lot of pictures they're analyzing right now. there are other people that are on the radar. now we've got to find them and they've got to either rule them out or they've got to raise them in terms of priority on the list. they're looking at surveillance.

we are told they're looking at surveillance cameras that were along the route up to a week before and two weeks before so they can see who was traveling, who was looking for locations, possibly scouting those locations. this is going to be an intensive investigation. >> we know from looking at the photos ourselves there is no shortage of individuals there with black backpacks. what do you expect at this 5:00 p.m. press conference? >> it's very, very interesting. we got a memo from headquarters saying a 5:00 press conference but in bonneston everyone kept saying tentatively. they don't want to get burned, seem like they're going to have a press conference and then pull back and people read into it. we don't know. they may say we don't have anything. here is an update. i think the investigators want to keep people in the loop and keep them organized but at the same time they just may not have a lot that they can tell because all of this is part of the criminal investigation. all of it will be brought forth for a trial in the event there

is a trial. >> thank you so much. we'll come back to you soon. president obama said for millions of us what happened on monday in boston is personal. and you can bet it was personal for my next guest, the president and ceo of the boston red sox, larry lukino thank you so much for joining us. he attended the interfaith service where the president spoke. your thoughts on what the president had to say today. >> the president was pitch perfect. he was presidential, inspiring. he was -- he showed a familiarity with what was happening here locally. he inspired everyone i think to behave as well as we can in the days going forward with as much inspiration as possible from the good works done by the people in boston. >> now, i hate to bring up a sore subject but tomorrow night you have a game. >> we do. >> this will be the first game since -- here in boston since the attack. are you taking extra precautions? what are your concerns? >> we are. first of all we think it's

important, baseball can play a role as the bruins and hockey did last night in helping the community heal, helping it come together, expressing some of the sentiments we all share and feel. the mayor did that today so well as he demonstrated kind of resilience of his own as he spoke of boston's resilience. tomorrow night is an opportunity for boston to come together and for us to pay a low key tribute to the people who behaved so bravely and to show support for the victims. >> what, specifically, do you have in mind for tomorrow? >> well, it will basically be a low key, not pageantry at all but a low key tribute of appreciation for the way people behaved, first responders, volunteers, doctors, nurses, blood donors, all of those folks, and an effort to show to the world some of the resilience that the mayor talks so eloquently about today that bostonians will come together

and this is the wrong city to -- >> to mess with. i assume some added security? >> yes. we certainly -- public safety has always been a major concern of ours, but in the last several days we've taken steps to increase it. we asked our fans to come to the game a little bit earlier. just because there will be extra precautions and extra personnel at the ballpark for tomorrow. but that's the highest priority for us always. >> now, i have to confess, i'm a phillies fan. >> it's okay. it's the other league. >> i hate the red sox and the yankees though we're all red sox fans today. >> thank you. >> but you've referred to the yankees in the past as the evil empire, which i completely agree. it must have meant something to see what the yankees did in homage to this team, which the two of you have such a celebrated rivalry. >> yes. it meant a great deal to us.

the banner that they hung alongside yankee stadium saying united we stand with the red sox logo and the yankee logo and singing "sweet caroline" in yankee stadium was almost surreal. but a lot of other teams in baseball reached out in the same way and tried to express, send a tribute or their solidarity to us. philadelphia had a sign that said from one tough city to another. >> right. >> there was sweet caroline sung in several ballparks around the country. it is really important and it may not seem like much of a gesture to those folks but to us here realizing they care enough about us in boston it meant a great deal. i have tremendously fond feelings for my colleagues in baseball and particularly for the yankees reaching out as they did. >> thank you so much. i wish you limited success but continued success for you and happiness for the city of boston. thank you so much, sir. a nation already on edge

from terror bombings and poison letters literally shaken again in less than a half hour we expect a press conference updating us on the enormous destruction in a small, west texas town. an explosion few have seen outside a war zone happened last night at a fertilizer plant in the town of west texas. the blast was so strong it registered as an earthquake and was felt 50 miles awachlt it flattened homes in a five-block area. witnesses compared it to what they saw in the early nights of the iraq war or perhaps even oklahoma city. police say between 5 and 15 people are dead. the number is almost sure to rise with more than 160 people suffering injuries. with the closest major hospital to the town of fewer than 3,000 people about 25 miles away. as we've seen so many times in these disasters, people ran into the danger zone as fast as they were running away. >> last night was truly a

nightmare scenario for that community. but as i said earlier, we're blessed in this state to have the best emergency management team in the country and they certainly were at their best last night along with the citizens. >> chief medical correspondent for cnn dr. sanjay gupta is live in west texas. sanjay, thanks so much and good to see you. the national guard is monitoring the air quality around the blast area. what could happen to people who breathe in this chemical and hydrous ammonia? >> this is a very interesting, potentially dangerous chemical, a nitrogen fertilizer, jake. let me just tell you it's stored at high pressure and that is relevant because if it comes out of a tank, it can -- it's lighter than air, typically. in conditions like this, though, it can stay closer to the ground and cause what's known as an ammonia fog. if it touches your skin it

immediately dehydrates your skin to the point where you can suffer burns. you heard probably, jake, the initial rescue efforts people had to wear respirators. if you breathe this in it can be quite damaging to your upper airway and lungs. that was the big concern obviously for the people in the area but also the first responders. i will tell you, jake, the state epa has been conducting air quality exams pretty regularly and so far the news seems to be good with regard to that. either because of the winds, the conditions overall, that air quality does not seem to be an issue. you do have the concerns still as you pointed out about the initial explosion, the primary blast, the secondary blast, some of the same things we've been talking about in boston but also the fire and these flattened buildings that you mentioned. by the way, if you're here, you'll know a four to five block radius you just described is the town of west texas. small town about 2800 people. but the impact of this felt much further than just the town --

the boundaries itself, jake. >> how do you treat exposure to this gas? >> typically what you -- in a situation where you have a lot of this around the safety protocols are to have lots of fluid and water around as well because if somebody gets it on their skin you have to start flushing it immediately. because it is anhydrous which means without water, you sort of have to do the opposite. dehydrating the skin to the point of burns so you have to give water. people who ingest or inhale it often end up in hospitals and have to be treated in a way that is known as symptomatically meaning a treatment for the symptoms. if they're having difficulty breathing they may need breathing machines, often a lot of fluids replaced. there is no particular antidote for this sort of thing. you have to flush it either off the body or out of the inside of the body as quickly as possible. when you talk about these people that are in the hospital, hill crest hospital, that may be what some of them are being treated for. the majority, again, for these

blast injuries, i should just point out, because you're there in boston there is one hospital here, 25 miles away. 237-bed hospital to try and treat most of these injuries. it is a very good trauma hospital. but where you are and where i was yesterday nine hospitals to take care of the injured. it is a very different situation in terms of resources here as well, jake. >> exactly. dr. sanjay gupta in west texas, thank you so much. when we come back, can you find the boston bombing suspect or suspects in these photographs? investigators are poring through thousands of images. so are people online. plus, shame on you. that's what former congresswoman gabrielle giffords is saying to senators who voted against more stringent background checks for gun buyers. i'll ask senators john mccain and chuck schumer for their reaction, coming up. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds.

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we're waiting for two press conferences one in west texas on the blast at the fertilizer plant and the other an fbi briefing on the boston marathon bombings. i am here in boston. it's been a terrible, turbulent week in america as i don't need to tell you and while the country reels and grieves and prays some big decisions were being made on capitol hill amid the chaos yesterday. the senate voted down what would have been an historic extension to the country's gun laws. here is what former congresswoman gabby giffords had to say about it in the "new york times" this morning. quote, some of the senators who voted no have also looked into my eyes as i talked about my experience being shot in the head at point blank range in suburban tucson two years ago. these senators have heard from their constituents who, polls show, overwhelmingly favored expanding background checks. and still these senators decided to do nothing. shame on them.

senator john mccain of arizona joins me now to talk about it. thanks for joining us. you were just one of six republicans to vote yes in favor of extending background checks to gun shows and to internet sales. why do you think so many republicans voted against it? >> i don't know, jake. you'll have to ask them. i've heard various statements about their concerns about the bill but i think you'll have to have them on to tell you that. by the way, congratulations on your new program. i wish you every success, and congratulations. >> thank you, sir. i appreciate it. just one more on the gun vote yesterday. tell me about the pressure you felt to vote against it. you're obviously somebody that has a record in favor of voting with gun groups in the past and yet you voted, you were in the

minority of your party. did you feel intense pressure to vote against it? >> no. jake, i've been around here a long time. honestly i don't feel much pressure anymore. i just try to do what i think is right and, unfortunately, it's not always right. >> i want to play for you some sound from president obama. he was very angry in the rose garden yesterday. >> but instead of supporting this compromise, the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill. >> willfully lied about the bill. you know, washington's an odd town as both you and i know. people don't often use the "l" word for some reason. they don't often accuse people of lying. were you surprised that president obama said that? is it true? were gun groups lying about the bill? >> i'm not sure about that because, frankly, i didn't pay a great deal of attention. i'm very familiar with the

issue, but i understand how the president felt very strongly. he was in newtown. he feels the suffering of the families and i can certainly understand, given his point of view, why the president got somewhat emotional. i'm joined by my friend senator schumer. a lot of people may not remember back in the 18th century senator schumer was the author of "the brady bill" one of the first bills that brought gun control in. >> applied to bows and arrows. >> yes. >> senator schumer, thanks for joining us. >> hi, jake. >> i want to talk to the two of you obviously about immigration reform, but before we turn to that subject, why do you think the gun bill went down? why do you think so many republicans and a handful of democrats voted against it? was a principled vote against it or were they afraid of losing re-election? >> you know, i think that there is something in between and that is representing the people of

your state. unfortunately in many, many states, the more rural states, some of the gun organizations have made people afraid of any gun legislation as they claim each one will lead to the taking away of your gun. it so happens the background checks would not affect law-abiding gun owners. i believe in the second amendment. i think there is a right to bear arms and i don't think liberals are right when they say it only applies to malicious, and i was saying that before the heller amendment. on the other hand, this bill only affects people who are felons, who are adjudicated mentally ill, who are spousal abusers. if you're a law-abiding gun owner this isn't going to interfere with your rights but some of these gun organizations, the nra in particular, they can't win on the merits of the arguments so they scare people and that's what they've done here. having said that, if you represent one of these rural states they think if you vouch for this it is going to end up taking away your gun. >> okay. i want to turn to immigration reform because it is obviously

why we booked the two of you, a big part of the immigration bill you and the other members of the gang of eight unveiled yesterday is about border security. some people are very skeptical that this actually would beef up border security in any substantive way, senator schumer. can you understand why they're skeptical? there have been so many promises in the past about securing the border that have not come through. >> well i -- john has convinced me we need to do more on the border. let me give you one statistic. he and i actually passed legislation about three years ago that added a billion dollars to the border. in many places, particularly the very busy tucson sector, the effectiveness rate was 68%. after that billion dollars it went up to 82%. so we believe if we do more of the same things there, we can get it. what john showed me when we visited the border, how much they need equipment. they don't have enough drones. they don't have enough aircraft. you can't cover the border with just fence and personnel.

a lot of it is rugged and desolate. if you have in the air you can watch anyone who crosses the border and catch them 50 or 75 miles inland. we can do better on the border and the american people are demanding it. my view is that most americans will be for a fair, balanced, common sense approach to legal immigration and the 11 million living in the shadows, but only if they believe that we'll secure the border and not have a third wave of illegal immigration. so i'm willing to do that and i think most of my colleagues on the democratic side are willing to do that even those of us far from southern border states. >> senator mccain, i'll let you have the last word. two quick questions. one is anecdotally i've heard there are people who are making their way across the border illegally doing so because they hope that they will be able to become citizens because of this immigration reform bill. have you heard those stories from arizona or elsewhere? and, lastly, can you deliver 60 votes to make this bill happen? >> i believe we can.

i can answer your second question. i believe we can. as far as the increased crossing of the border, i think part of it has to do with the economy. part of it has to do with sequestration. anyone who came after december 31st, 2011, will not be eligible for this legalized status and eventual path to citizenship. i want to thank chuck schumer for coming to the border and seeing it and seeing the immensity of the problem. frankly, being an advocate for arizona and border control. people are skeptical, jake, because we promised them so many times that we would control the border. now we have made improvements as chuck just said. but we're a long way from there and the drugs are still flowing, too, which is another issue that we're going to have to face as a nation as well because there is still a big demand for them as you know. >> all right. senators mccain and schumer, thank you so much. we'll have you back on "the lead" to talk more about this. we appreciate your time.

we're still waiting for the fbi press conference at 5:00 p.m. eastern when we expect to learn more on the investigation into monday's terrorist attacks here in boston. coming up at 5:00 p.m. eastern. plus i'll be joined soon by two doctors who became heroes on monday. one who had witnessed similar horrors in iraq.

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i'm jake tapper in boston awaiting an fbi press conference on the terrorist bombings. in just about half an hour this into cnn hearing about a new potential lead in the case. the investigation into the

attacks here. it involves a battery found in the blast debris. let me bring in cnn crime and justice correspondent joe johns. joe, what are your sources telling you? >> jake, a top executive with tenenergy corporation out of california confirms to cnn his company has been contacted by federal authorities. a mangled tenenergy battery was found at the location of the marathon bombing. that battery we're told is what this executive described on the phone to us as a nickel metal hrdry sub c-size battery the type of battery typically used in remote control hobby cars. and the executive of course telling us in his view it is appalling this battery would have been used in this way when especially it is intended for toys. this is a possible lead in the investigation. we've been working under the

assumption there is a triggering device for these bombs of course and possibly that the triggering device could have been say a cell phone. it could have been some other way of triggering it. now the question is whether it was a remote control. we've reached out to federal authorities. they haven't said anything to us at all about this but we do know of course that remote controls were used for i.e.d.s from time to time. jake, back to you. >> all right. joe johns, thank you so much. they thought they'd be taping sprained ankles and treating runners are with heat exhaustion but instead ended up doing triage in what felt like a war zone. two heroes of the boston bombings join me now from san diego first, dr. rouzier, take me through what you did after the bombs went off. >> well, i was at tent a which is the major medical tent. what my role is for that tent is

to be the triage person making decisions as distressed runners either wobble up to us or if they're brought in by wheelchair, is to decide do they need to go to the critical care part of the tent? do they need to go to the general medical part of the tent or just sit in a wheelchair for a few minutes? and at about 2:50 p.m., there is a loud noise, which sounded like a cannon. i thought initially it was somebody's friend had finished the race and they shot a cannon off to just applaud their friend but then it was way too loud for that and then smoke was billowing above and there were people screaming and running and about, you know, within seconds later another blast went off and that is when you knew there was a bomb. >> go ahead. >> so at that point, i was out front with one of my colleagues,

dr. chad beatty who actually completed our fellowship last year and i am very close to chad. we looked at each other and we had to think, okay. where will we be most valuable? we had no idea what was happening at the scene. we knew there was a lot of doctors and a lot of medical personnel in our tent. we were triaging the race, the ill runners up front with a couple e.r. nurses. here is my cell phone number. i'll run down there. call me back if you need me. i texted my wife and kids and said there is a bomb at the finish line. i'm going down. pray. pray for everyone. not knowing what would happen if i would, you know, see them again. and chad and i went running down to the scene. we got to the scene. it was horrific. it was an area that was probably, oh, 20 feet by 40 feet or so, maybe a little bigger or

smaller and there was just bodies lying on the ground. there was blood everywhere. the thing that sticks out in your mind, the most for me, is all the bones. the poor young man whose legs have been blown off, whose, you know, foot and shoe we practically tripped over running through the group of people. and everybody was attended to, which was amazing. we were there not that long after it happened, and watching the video later you watched the first responders run across the street, tear down the barriers, and jump right in and start helping. >> truly incredible. dr. brennan, i want to go to you for a second. you were in iraq in 2003. what was going through your head when you heard the explosions and how similar was it to your time in iraq? >> certainly explosions we heard quite a few in iraq and baghdad.

it was quite distinctive in sound. you don't really know for sure if it is a gas line, truck backing into something. but certainly after the second explosion, you know, i knew this was not your typical car backing into a trash can or something like this. it was a loud noise. they were both loud noises. they shook -- >> literally in an instant. >> i have to cut away. we're going to a live press conference in west texas where they're talking about the explosion in that plant yesterday. >> these are tough texans and these people affected by the blast are up to dealing with the challenge. it may be a challenge today. it may be a challenge tomorrow. in the coming months and years these texans will piece their lives back together knowing that they have unparalleled support from their state, from their fellow community, from their

fellow texans. the second thing is the incredible praise that must be given to the first responders across this entire community. in texas our first responders don't run from harm. they run toward helping out. that is exactly what happened here. in the face of the most incredible danger first responders ran in to try to save the lives of someone else. these first responders literally lost their lives helping others. first responders include firemen, policemen, law enforcement officers of all kind, health care providers, and of course the entire community. the report we got in responding to this challenge is as big as texas itself. the big thing we want to convey and that is that the state of texas and the entire community

will provide whatever sources are needed to ensure that these challenges will be met. live in this community will be put back together. then the last thing i'll mention is an unfortunate follow on to incidents like this that arise. it seems sometimes when tragedies like this arise, they are followed by price gouging. the governor has declared this a disaster and so my office has declared a warning with regard to price gouging and we've activated the price gouging statute in texas. if anyone tries to profit eeer f this tragedy by hiking up prices for basic needs and necessities they will be facing the wrong end of a lawsuit from the texas attorney general. at this time i want to pass the microphone over to the texas

department of public safety with the last comment that the texas department of public safety is going to provide a flyover here as soon as the press conference is over giving me the opportunity to survey the damage with the ability to report back in more detail about my observations later on. at this time i'd like to turn things over to the texas department of public safety. >> jason reyes with the texas department of public safety. ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience first and foremost. the last briefing was at 10:00 this morning. we want to update the information going on as of now. we are still in the search and rescue phase looking for individuals, okay, officials from the state, county, local level are tirelessly working to try and locate individuals.

for security reasons, ladies and gentlemen, the atf has requested that no persons, nobody entered any of these affected areas. it is really important. as of 2:00 p.m. this afternoon a community assistance building is opened. this is the old library for individuals of the city of west. a post office has been opened as well and is going to be running for the needs of those families of west. for any information, it has come to our attention that people are wanting to donate items. we are not needing any perishable items at this time but if you want to make monetary donations contact the red cross, salvation army, and a fund has been set up for the victims of west as well. at this time if you have any questions we'll entertain any of those questions.

at this time we can confirm we have fatalities. the exact number is not -- we have confirmed tallies at this time. we don't have the exact amount. i do not confirm the mayor's statements. >> can you speak to the potential as time goes on here that there could be some level of criminal negligence and your office, keeping open that option? >> i think issues involving that, it is premature to consider any issues like this. our focus is trying to help the families affected. get them back to as close to normalcy as we can. help out in the search-and-rescue component and lead to another day issues such as this.

>> this is a tireless -- these gentlemen are woshing ti inwork tirelessly, extremely hard trying to do the search and rescue. they are dealing with the circumstances -- the sheriff can elaborate a little more what we're dealing with. >> thank you. i am the chief deputy sheriff for the mcclenan county sheriff's department. what i can tell you about the area of where the incident occurred is that it is highly populated. it is a neighborhood. it is devastated. it is still a very volatile situation. our office is working very closely with alcohol, tobacco, and firearms and the state fire

marshal's office to determine the exact cause of this explosion. because of the ammonium nitrate found at the scene. this is a fertilizer company and as it is it has that type of component in it. >> how dangerous is it right now if you're in the general facility potentially? >> we have the texas -- the texas commission on environmental quality and the epa going in now to determine just how dangerous it is for our first responders. >> are they wearing any type of facemask? >> i have no knowledge of what equipment they have. >> i don't know about anhydrous ammonia. i've been told about ammonia nitrate

was it all exploded or burnt up in the process or does some of it remain? >> that question i have no knowledge of. >> we do not know the cause of the fire. that is what the alcohol, tobacco, and firearms and the state fire marshal's office is working tirelessly to try to find out. i'll pass this back to the attorney general. >> a couple more questions. >> some of their friends, volunteer firefighters are deceased -- can you confirm -- once again we can't confirm we have fatalities. at this time we can't confirm the number of fatalities. >> can you tell us about the extent of the damage? >> as the chief deputy said this is a populated area with damage to residential homes and properties. >> just to clarify, earlier we

were being told it was five to 15. now you do not want to say that? >> sir, i can confirm we have fatalities but i can't give you the exact amount. >> from the previous statement we should not use them correct? >> again, we do not have a tally. >> with respect to the firefighters we were told three to five were missing this morning. do those numbers hold? >> out of respect for the firefighters i think it is best we continue our search and rescue efforts. >> when will the affected areas be -- >> again, we're taking this on a day by day, hour by hour basis right now. >> is there a hazmat team -- [ question inaudible ] >> we are not going to expedite anything. we're going to be sure we do it right. >> is the fire completely out? >> i do not have knowledge of that. >> should residents be concerned for their health? this was a fertilizer plant, contamination of water supply, anything? >> we are taking every safety precaution. >> should they be concerned for

their health? >> l after our state agencies, our resources are being utilized. i'll take one more question. >> are you looking into any zoning laws or anything in terms of this community and the cou y county, having a populated area next to what seems to be a volatile point. >> ma'am, i am not familiar with the zoning ordinances. >> is anyone looking into that? >> we'll leave that to the city. >> is anybody from the city available to answer those questions? >> we are working on setting another date for another press conference. thank you for your time. we'll get back to you. last name reyes. >> we will be making a 6:00 or so -- you can expect another briefing from us. >> thank you.

>> authorities releasing more information on that blast in west texas where a chemical plant caught fire and turned into a giant bomb. a blast and ball of fire so strong it shook the ground with the strength of a small earthquake and blew out doors and windows several miles away. the scope of the damage, it's hard to get your head around but tom foreman is in the virtual studio with a look at how widespread it is. >> hey, jake. the simple truth is we've been analyzing the shock wave that went out from this explosion and it really is absolutely astonishing here in central texas. let me bring in the map and tell you what i'm talking about. we'll zoom into central texas. watch as we start this right in the middle in real time. you see that growing right there? 12 seconds. that's how long we think it took for this shock wave to travel from that plant 25 miles away to waco. how did it do it so fast? this was a supersonic blast wave traveling between 4,000 and 6700

miles an hour. in waco what do they get out of this? basically all they got was sort of a rattling of the windows, a sense something big had happened. some people said it must have been like oklahoma city. in some ways they are very right. not any real damage there. just a shock they could feel that far away. you move in closer on this map and you take it down to a mile away or less where you talk about the downtown of this area then you start talking about real damage as that shock wave hit. shock waves lose energy the further they go. even a mile away there is less happening. they have a lot of broken glass. not so much structural damage. once you get in a half mile and you're talking about a few blocks you have profound damage. this is the plant. that is where you start seeing the damage to these houses where they were simply torn apart, wrenched apart and set on fire as gas mains and things were broken. how did that happen? because the shock wave hit them

and pushed everything one way and the moment it passed the vacuum behind it ripped it all back the other way. that is happening 4,000, 6,000 miles an hour, a huge, huge impact. that is why we're seeing so much damage and when you analyzed the material that was inside this plant, it could have been anywhere from five to ten fims as strong as the blast in oklahoma city. jake? >> tom foreman in the virtual studio thank you. we're moments from the start of the fbi news conference. we'll bring it to you live and have more on the investigation next. red lobster's chefs to your table for a limited time! it's our seafood dinner for two for just 25 dollars! a handcrafted seafood feast made to share. first you each get salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. then choose two from a wide variety of chef-inspired entrées like our new honey garlic crispy shrimp or new seafood lover's linguini. round out your seafood dinner with your choice of either an appetizer or dessert to share! don't miss our seafood dinner for two, just $25 at red lobster, where we sea food differently.

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law enforcement officials are already trying to learn lessons from this attack just days ago to help better secure public events nationwide. cnn law enforcement analyst tom fuentes and cnn national security analyst fran townsend are live in washington, d.c. tom, let's start with you. what are some of the things investigators will look for in boston to help thwart future attacks? >> i think, primarily, the one thing that could be altered in the future if they want to would be the race course itself. you might have a situation where maybe it ends inside a stadium so maybe the last half mile or quarter mile would be in a secure, hardened area people have to be checked before they go into, assuming that the likely place for an attack is going to be somewhere near the finish line. even then, we're talking about 26.2 miles. how do you secure that whole thing? maybe you can secure the 0.2 part of it. what about the first 26? they're going to be looking at that. that doesn't mean there is any

easy solutions to future events like this one. >> fran, we have a few major events coming up in the next few months, big ones like the kentucky derby, indy 500. we're going to have a red sox game here in boston tomorrow night. how can we expect security for the future events whether tomorrow night or in the coming weeks and months to be different than what we're already used to in the new post 9/11 normal? >> well, a couple things, jake. one, public officials in cities throughout the country are reminding people about the see it say it programs. they want people to be aware of their surroundings and to report to officials, unintended packages, suspicious behavior. you'll also see more of the visible presence whether that means dogs, package checks, that sort of thing. you know, in cities, major urban areas like new york, you already see an increased presence at subway systems. you know, in open public areas where large amounts of people

gather. you're going to see for a period of time more presence and more skittishness if you will about suspicious packages for sure. >> tom, of course, added security means more money. it costs money to have added security. it's a time of austerity where people are talking about greater spending cuts. explain the complications for the fbi and others in law enforcement when it comes to this demand for more security especially after what happened here at the boston marathon on monday? >> it's an important political consideration because the resources are finite whether talking about federal agencies, state police, local, city police, county, sheriff's offices. all of the authorities have limited resources and maybe in the last couple years and in the years to come now, may have fewer yet re. you could say okay. they need to dedicate more resources to major events. it's a trade-off. then what do they cut out? what programs or what safety,

neighborhood watch or other programs they have get reduced to make up for it so we can do that? i don't think people realize the amount of planning. i've been involved in these. i was involved in two indianapolis 500s for example. the olympics in atlanta, '96. it's days, months, maybe up to a year of planning where agency heads and key components have to get together on a regular basis and discuss every aspect of it. the crowd control, the spectators, how many people will be in your city and on the streets and walking on the streets and out at night. much less the event itself. so there is a lot of planning. and every time all the commanders and all the tactical leaders and all of the other people get together, that's something else that they're not doing while they're having those meetings and planning sessions. >> fran, the reality is there is only so much the government can do, law enforcement can do.

what can we as individuals do in this new normal to help make society safer in this era where terrorists will strike at any moment? >> jake, the most important thing is this partnership between the public and law enforcement. i mean, as you pointed out to tom, there's only, you know, only so many law enforcement officers. the public is a force multiplier for them. you take that and law enforcement will look, one of the most effective things they can do with limited resources is use what they call random antiterror measures. that you surge to a particular place. it's unpredictable. and it's unpredictable and effective against your enemies because they don't know to expect you there. programs like this exist in new york and los angeles. i think you'll see an increased use of them because they're the most cost effective way. added to it you'll have a plea to the american public to please work with law enforcement and provide them information so that they can target their limited

resources. >> and, tom, how do we put security concerns into perspective for the public so they don't freak out every time they leave the house and they don't complain to flight attendants every time they see somebody who looks a little bit different or maybe is watching an episode of homeland on their ipad? >> well, i think for the most part they don't freak out, but it's true. even programs like see it and say it, what you're looking at is people are going to be suspicious of other people that don't look like they do. that means that you have many different ethnic groups. we have so much diversity in the country. then you have people on the street that are all carrying backpacks and you have this whether it's a university campus or whether it's people commuting to work or if they're going to be out all day, at a spectator event where they bring food or clothing, jackets, other issues. so, you know, that is what makes it difficult here, that you have so many people that don't look like we do. you have to worry about that. >>